A scholarly edition of Susan Ferrier's The Inheritance

This is a scholarly edition of Susan Ferrier’s (1782-1854) second novel, The Inheritance (1824). I want to reclaim its value as a novel that reveals much about nineteenth-century Scottish notions of class, gender, and nation. Ferrier was among many writers influenced by the development of the Scottish Renaissance. Anand Chitnis claims that this Scottish flowering began in earnest by 1750 and ended by 1830, during which time Scotland emerged from centuries of war and oppression to establish itself as a major force in Europe’s intellectual and scientific community (4). Improvements in transportation opened up opportunities for migration and travel, connecting Scotland with the rest of Britain. This changing climate influenced significantly Ferrier and her Scottish contemporaries, who adopted recurrent themes, symbols, and settings in their works to establish a sense of coherence within their own society. Ferrier’s works feature elements that are fundamental to Scottish women’s writing as a whole. These elements, such as a powerful sense of locality,distinctive characters, and use of the Scottish vernacular, are especially evident in The Inheritance. In utilizing the 1853 edition as copytext, I adhere to Jerome McGann’s notion that “each text enters the world under determinate socio-historical conditions, which can be variously defined and imagined” (9). The production of a text, therefore, can be influenced by changes in perspective of the author, as well as the opinions of publishers,reviewers, family, and friends. In 1850, in response to a letter from Bentley inviting Ferrier to make changes to the stereotypes of the 1841 edition in his possession, Ferrier asked that Bentley remove the existing illustrations and vignettes and make some substantive and accidental changes to the text. These appear to have been attended to, although Bentley did keep one of the illustrations as frontispiece. At this time, Ferrier also allowed her name to be released as author of the text. This present edition is collated against the 1824 edition held at the National Library of Scotland. As one of my aims is to illustrate the nature of literary production during this period, idiosyncrasies of spelling and punctuation are left unchanged. A few misprints are corrected as indicated in the footnotes. I have included separately accidental and substantive changes between the 1841 and 1853 texts. Aside from a comprehensive introduction, I also include a brief chronology of Ferrier’s life and works,an appendix that includes a selection of illustrations from various editions, and a list of editions of The Inheritance

Fast Food: A Source of Exposure to Phthalates and Bisphenol A in a Nationally Representative Sample

Background: Certain phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) are industrial chemicals widely used in consumer products that can adversely impact human health. Diet is hypothesized to be a major source of exposure but little is known about the impact of specific food sources. This study aims to investigate the association between fast food consumption with human exposure to high-molecular weight phthalates (di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (DEHP) and diisononyl phthalate (DINP)) and BPA, in 8876 participants, aged 6 to 85 years old, from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), 2003-2010. Methodology: During the NHANES mobile exam, participants: 1) provided a spot urine sample which was measured for metabolites of DEHP, DINP, and BPA; and 2) completed a 24-hour dietary recall survey. We calculated kilocalorie intake of fast food from the dietary survey, and modeled fast food consumption in the prior 24-hours dichotomously and categorically as the percent of total daily calories (0%, Results: The majority of study subjects had detectable levels of urinary phthalate and BPA metabolites in their urine. Those who had eaten fast food had significantly higher urinary metabolite levels of ΣDEHP [percent change (95%CI): 18.63% (10.38%, 27.50%)] and DINP [percent change (95%CI): 32.17% (20.04%, 45.52%)], but not BPA [percent change (95%CI): 2.36% (-2.59%, 7.56%)] compared to those who had not eaten fast food in adjusted models. For ΣDEHP and DINP, there was evidence of a positive dose-response effect (p for trend \u3c 0.0001). Meat and grain consumption were associated with ΣDEHP and DINP when adjusting for all food groups. Discussion: Findings suggest that fast food consumption may be an important exposure source for DEHP and DINP, but not BPA, among the general population. Consistent with other studies that report high phthalate residues in high fat foods, our findings suggest that meat-centric meals may in part be responsible for this association. Further research should investigate which components of the fast food industry (production and storage, cooking process, packaging, etc.) contribute to this association

Recent fast food consumption and bisphenol A and phthalates exposures among the U.S. population in NHANES, 2003-2010

Background: Phthalates and bisphenol A (BPA) are widely used industrial chemicals that may adversely impact human health. Human exposure is ubiquitous and can occur through diet, including consumption of processed or packaged food. Objective: To examine associations between recent fast food intake and BPA and urinary metabolites of di(2-ethylhexyl) phthalate (ΣDEHPm) and diisononyl phthalate (DiNPm) among the US population. Methods: We combined data on 8877 participants from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 2003-2010). Using 24-hour dietary recall data, we quantified: 1) fast food intake (percent of total energy intake (TEI) from fast food); 2) fast food-derived fat intake (percent of TEI from fat in fast food); and 3) fast food intake by food group (dairy, eggs, grains, meat, and other). We examined associations between dietary exposures and urinary chemical concentrations using multivariate linear regression. Results: We observed evidence of a positive, dose–response relationship between fast food intake and exposure to phthalates (p-trend \u3c 0.0001) but not BPA; participants with high consumption (≥ 34.9% TEI from fast food) had 23.8% (95% CI: 11.9%, 36.9%) and 39.0% (95% CI: 21.9%, 58.5%) higher levels of ΣDEHPm and DiNPm, respectively, than nonconsumers. Fast food-derived fat intake was also positively associated with ΣDEHPm and DiNPm (p-trend \u3c 0.0001). After adjusting for other food groups, ΣDEHPm was associated with grain and other intake, and DiNPm was associated with meat and grain intake. Conclusion: Fast food may be a source of exposure to DEHP and DiNP. These results, if confirmed, could inform individual and regulatory exposure reduction strategies

In Vitro Assessment of Acute Neuro-inflammation in a Model of the Blood Brain Barrier

Cassandra Phillips ’20 Major: Biology and Psychology Dak Ojuka \u2720Major: Biology Minor: Business and Innovation Anne-Deyssa Victor \u2721Major: Biology Ramon G. Ortega-Alvarez ’20Major: Biology Kathryn Fama ’21 Major: Biology Faculty Mentor: Dr. Charles Toth, Biology The purpose of this experiment was to develop an in vitro model of the blood brain barrier that incorporated brain endothelial microvascular cells (BMEC) and co-cultures composed of neurons, astrocytes, and macrophages. All cell types were derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells. A transendothelial electrical resistance (TEER) assay and immunofluorescence were used to evaluate barrier function. In addition, the model was used to investigate acute neuro-inflammatory responses. An in vitro model of the blood brain barrier could be a valuable tool to observe and assess neuro-inflammation because a human stem cell model is more physiologically relevant

Antarctic Climate Change and the Environment: A Decadal Synopsis and Recommendations for Action

Scientific evidence is abundantly clear and convincing that due to the current trajectory of human-derived emissions of CO2 and other greenhouse gases, the atmosphere and ocean will continue to warm, the ocean will continue to acidify, atmospheric and ocean circulation patterns will be altered, the cryosphere will continue to lose ice in all forms, and sea level will rise

Deep-sea hydrothermal vents as natural egg-case incubators at the Galapagos Rift

The discovery of deep-sea hydrothermal vents in 1977 challenged our views of ecosystem functioning and yet, the research conducted at these extreme and logistically challenging environments still continues to reveal unique biological processes. Here, we report for the first time, a unique behavior where the deep-sea skate, Bathyraja spinosissima, appears to be actively using the elevated temperature of a hydrothermal vent environment to naturally “incubate” developing egg-cases. We hypothesize that this behavior is directly targeted to accelerate embryo development time given that deep-sea skates have some of the longest egg incubation times reported for the animal kingdom. Similar egg incubating behavior, where eggs are incubated in volcanically heated nesting grounds, have been recorded in Cretaceous sauropod dinosaurs and the rare avian megapode. To our knowledge, this is the first time incubating behavior using a volcanic source is recorded for the marine environment

Climate change impacts on critical international transportation assets of Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS): the case of Jamaica and Saint Lucia

This contribution presents an assessment of the potential vulnerabilities to climate variability and change (CV & C) of the critical transportation infrastructure of Caribbean Small Island Developing States (SIDS). It focuses on potential operational disruptions and coastal inundation forced by CV & C on four coastal international airports and four seaports in Jamaica and Saint Lucia which are critical facilitators of international connectivity and socioeconomic development. Impact assessments have been carried out under climatic conditions forced by a 1.5 °C specific warming level (SWL) above pre-industrial levels, as well as for different emission scenarios and time periods in the twenty-first century. Disruptions and increasing costs due to, e.g., more frequent exceedance of high temperature thresholds that could impede transport operations are predicted, even under the 1.5 °C SWL, advocated by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) and reflected as an aspirational goal in the Paris Climate Agreement. Dynamic modeling of the coastal inundation under different return periods of projected extreme sea levels (ESLs) indicates that the examined airports and seaports will face increasing coastal inundation during the century. Inundation is projected for the airport runways of some of the examined international airports and most of the seaports, even from the 100-year extreme sea level under 1.5 °C SWL. In the absence of effective technical adaptation measures, both operational disruptions and coastal inundation are projected to increasingly affect all examined assets over the course of the century

Marine ecosystem assessment for the Southern Ocean: birds and marine mammals in a changing climate

The massive number of seabirds (penguins and procellariiformes) and marine mammals (cetaceans and pinnipeds) – referred to here as top predators – is one of the most iconic components of the Antarctic and Southern Ocean. They play an important role as highly mobile consumers, structuring and connecting pelagic marine food webs and are widely studied relative to other taxa. Many birds and mammals establish dense breeding colonies or use haul-out sites, making them relatively easy to study. Cetaceans, however, spend their lives at sea and thus aspects of their life cycle are more complicated to monitor and study. Nevertheless, they all feed at sea and their reproductive success depends on the food availability in the marine environment, hence they are considered useful indicators of the state of the marine resources. In general, top predators have large body sizes that allow for instrumentation with miniature data-recording or transmitting devices to monitor their activities at sea. Development of scientific techniques to study reproduction and foraging of top predators has led to substantial scientific literature on their population trends, key biological parameters, migratory patterns, foraging and feeding ecology, and linkages with atmospheric or oceanographic dynamics, for a number of species and regions. We briefly summarize the vast literature on Southern Ocean top predators, focusing on the most recent syntheses. We also provide an overview on the key current and emerging pressures faced by these animals as a result of both natural and human causes. We recognize the overarching impact that environmental changes driven by climate change have on the ecology of these species. We also evaluate direct and indirect interactions between marine predators and other factors such as disease, pollution, land disturbance and the increasing pressure from global fisheries in the Southern Ocean. Where possible we consider the data availability for assessing the status and trends for each of these components, their capacity for resilience or recovery, effectiveness of management responses, risk likelihood of key impacts and future outlook